The Burma Campaign

October 10, 2011
To honor the one million Burmese who perished in WWII, historian McLynn (Captain Cook) offers a meticulously researched account of the struggle between Japan and the Allied forces in Burma, the present-day Myanmar. Opening with a description of the geographically diverse nation and its impressive wildlife, McLynn focuses on the four Allied leaders who ultimately led the troops to victory. Providing comic relief are excerpts from the diary of U.S. General Joseph ("Vinegar Joe") Stilwell, a West Point alumnus with a facility for languages who slams the colonialist "Limeys" as well as Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. McLynn considers Stilwell a modern Musketeer along with his British colleagues General William Slim and Orde Wingate, commander of the Chindits, or the Indian Infantry Brigade. He casts the uncle of Prince Philip, Louis Mountbatten (whom Churchill appointed Supreme Commander of Southeast Asia in 1943), in the role of d'Artagnan. Although Burma earned its independence in 1948, McLynn laments the despotic regime that has ruled in the postwar years. Maps help the reader to locate remote battle sites, and a section of photos provides a break from the action.